YourSingapore Brand Story - Singapore Tourism Board

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Uniquely Singapore has had its share of achievements. The Uniquely Singapore brand campaign broke away from traditional “picture-postcard-perfect” tourism advertisements, and went beyond showcasing the functional attributes of Singapore to focus on the emotional connections that visitors experience in Singapore. In the span of 6 years since Uniquely Singapore was launched, we have seen a strong increase of visitor arrivals from 8.3 million in 2004 to 9.7 million in 2009, representing a growth of 16.8%. Singapore has also witnessed strong growth in its Tourism Receipts during this period from S$9.8 billion in 2004 to S$15.2 billion in 2008, a growth of 55.1%. Uniquely Singapore has also inspired a host of exciting tourism industry initiatives that brought our icons and heritage to life. Underscoring the brand’s success is Singapore’s promise that it is a destination where no two experiences are the same, as well as being a place that no two people experience in the same way. The evolution of the Singapore brand As Singapore reinvents itself constantly to deliver unique and personal experiences for every visitor, its destination brand also undergoes a natural evolution. Similarly, the world around us is also transforming. For example, social media has given rise to virtual communities; travellers are becoming increasingly knowledgeable and sophisticated as they learn all about their destinations online, before arriving there, and their decision-making processes in doing so, inspired STB to revisit Singapore’s destination brand rationale in 2009. Recognising the successful branding efforts of the Uniquely Singapore campaign over the last six years, it was clear that the next chapter in the brand story would necessarily be an evolution, a natural transition, and not an overhaul. Focus was placed on leveraging the equity created through the Uniquely Singapore campaign by clearly and single-mindedly qualifying Singapore’s uniqueness as a destination, as well as build upon the emotional connection that visitors experience in Singapore. To this end, it was essential that the brand strategy remain informed from three critical insight areas: 1. Brand insight: truths about Singapore in terms of what it offers and how it is perceived 2. Target audience insight: motivational factors that drive travel destination 3. Competitive insight: identifying conventions in the marketplace to ensure differentiation and cut-through.
In essence, the task for strategy development was to uncover and leverage brand insights, connect these with insights about the traveller and break the conventions that cloud and crowd the destination brand marketplace. Brand research 1 found that what fascinated and attracted visitors to Singapore is what it represents as an idea. Beyond the concentration of world-class attractions in one destination, or the ease of getting to and around, visitors, especially affluent Asian travellers, saw Singapore as a city that inspires, one which offers a sense of shared Asian attributes and familiarity but yet is so surprisingly distinct. What the typical traveller to Singapore perceived as an ideal travel experience was also examined. This was found to be relatively straightforward and can be simply captured by the phrase: “travelling on my own terms, but not out of my comfort zone”. Today, travellers want to be empowered to personalise their travel experience according to their individual needs and tastes. Social media and internet based search and e-commerce tools have fundamentally changed the way people plan and book travel – over 50% of visitors to Singapore who sourced for pre-arrival info cite the Internet as their most important source for planning and booking travel. Furthermore, social media has changed the nature of word of mouth referral in travel from that of asking travel agents advice to that of asking friends and peer reviews through social media networks. The shift in consumption habits is evidenced by the fact that 75% of internet users say that they rely on the internet to plan and book their trips (source: Google). Current trends show that in STB’s target markets: • 7 in 10 Chinese leisure travellers access destination websites and 6 in 10 use online travel forums (source: Nielsen "New Chinese Outbound Travel Monitor 2008") • 48% of overseas leisure travellers from India use the Internet for information (source: Nielsen "Indian Outbound Travel Monitor 2008") • 55% of UK Internet users book holidays online (source: Nielsen / Net Ratings) • Even in Indonesia where internet penetration is still relatively low, 82% of Indonesian travellers use the internet as a key source of information to plan where to go (source: MasterCard Pan Asian Travel Index H2, 2008) 1 Ongoing brand tracking studies and a qualitative study commissioned for the brand evolution conducted by STB’s appointed research agencies
Page 1: YourSingapore Brand Story Cracking
Page 5: YourSingapore YourSingapore is unde

YourSingapore Brand Story - Singapore Tourism Board

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?